federal funds were made available for both dams. Santa Fe was completed in 1949, and Whittier Narrows in 1956. Construction was also expedited at Prado Dam, which had been planned in 1936 but work had not yet started at the time of the 1938 flood. Had Prado Dam been operational in 1938 it would likely have prevented the severe flooding in Orange County. Although some river channel work was already in place at the time, the 1938 flood was the main impetus for channelizing the Los Angeles River in concrete, speeding the flow of floodwaters to the sea. The channelization project was authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1941 was undertaken by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers starting just a few years after the 1938 flood, with emergency funding from the federal government. About of streams in the Los Angeles River system were encased in concrete, a huge undertaking that took twenty years to complete. The system successfully protected Los Angeles from massive flooding in 1969. The San Gabriel and Santa Ana Rivers were also ultimately channelized to protect against future floods, although it took much longer for those projects to be completed. In response to the large debris flows generated by the 1938 flood, the U.S. Forest Service was tasked with fire suppression in the Angeles Forest to reduce the risk of erosion in burned areas. See also List of floods References External links Image Gallery of 1962, 1941, 1938 Los Angeles floods 1938 Flood photos by Herman J. Schultheis at the Los Angeles Public Library 1938 floods 1938 in Los Angeles 1938 natural disasters in the United States February 1938 events March 1938 events Disasters in Los Angeles 1938 Flood History of Los Angeles History of Los Angeles County, California History of Orange County, California History of Riverside County, California Articles containing video clips